It's getting late! Do you have your present for your horror fan family member or friend? If you're looking for some unique and well crafted horror themed items, here are some suggestions.
Oh, you'd better watch out, you'd better not cry! You'd better not pout I'm telling you why! Santa Claus has a wood axe, for you! It is mind-boggling how many Santa themed horror movies there are. Do we all have deep-seated childhood fears of Saint Nick? Yes, yes we do. Listen to the Scariest Things for some Christmas-themed horror films for you to watch when you're on holiday.
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
After failing to crowd-fund their board game "Murder Bury Win", three young game designers get the opportunity of a lifetime to present their ideas to a scion of the game industry and finally get the big break they have been looking for. After initial fun and games, their dream pitch turns into a nightmare with tragic (and comic) consequences. Great characters + unique concept + greed motives = cinema gold!
And you thought you had family issues! Parenting issues. Spouse issues. Mutant parent issues. Demonic spouse issues. You know, normal stuff. The Scariest Things invites you to discover the shocking sub-genre that is dysfunctional families!
Cinematic horror for most its history has been a story almost exclusively told by men. After miniscule progress from 1980 to 2010, the door has opened and a stream of great women directors has been arriving on the horror scene. Partly due to social change, partly due to networking and contacts, but this movement is mostly due to pure talent and merit. These ladies are very good at what they do. And with each success story, another door opens. Here are terrific 30 distaff directors you should know about.
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Boys from County Hell is a slice of blue-collar Irish horror-comedy, where a road construction crew is tasked with the removal of a stone cairn marking the grave of a vampire that gave inspiration to Bram Stoker. Why is it that characters in Irish comedies always want to leave the isle? It might be the vampires.
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What separates a truly iconic horror film and raises it above its peers? Master documentarian Alexandre Phillipe makes a compelling argument that adhering to classical and even ancient themes can make the difference, and he casts Alien into a whole different light. Phillipe once again delivers a beautifully crafted breakdown and makes for a really compelling watch for fans of Alien.
Just in time for a Pandemic Thanksgiving, it's time to talk food-themed horror! There exists a special and not often seen niche in the horror genre, and these films range from throwaway light and silly movies to unforgettable acts of disgusting digestive distress. You might not want to eat before watching these movies. It's Scariest Things Podcast Episode 112: Edible Horror!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Is it a ghost story? A time travel story? The Return is a bit of both. Director BJ Verot's first feature film is a tightly scripted sci-fi and haunted horror production, and it was one of the highlights of 2020's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
We have seen the future of Horror Film Festivals, and it was the big Nightstream festival. While it was disappointing not to be able to go to these events in person, the streaming digital festival delivered a wealth of great movies, shorts, and special events that both horrified and delighted us. Listen in to the Scariest Things team report on our favorite moments.
"Something's wrong with Cujo, Mom!"
I guess you can call that an understatement. Dogs have a proud history in horror movies as both monsters and heroes. Here are some of the most notable pooches in the genre. WOOF!
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Ray Harryhausen would be proud! Love and Monsters defies expectations with more emotional resonance, visual wizardry, and storytelling surprises than you would expect. The monsters are spectacularly rendered, and convincingly animated. Dylan O'Brien is a joy to watch, in the best role of his young career. The most important thing to know is that this movie is worth the premium price for streaming entry.
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
A grifter with good intentions, but in need of a lucky break, signs up for a job that seems too good to be true. Lapsis is a dystopian parable for the treadmill of old-fashioned hard work and the fear that technology is going to make you obsolete.
Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give me movies to repeat! It's that time of year, to binge scary films. So, it's time for the Scariest Things to recommend some highly thematic Halloweeny films for you to watch while you eat your (or your kid's) excess candy.
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The Doorman is a throwback action movie, starring Ruby Rose as an ex-special forces soldier turned doorman battling Jean Reno and his squad of art thieves. The film gets bogged down in stale clichés and surprisingly bland action pieces. Not everything on Nightstream was awesome, or even horror.
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May (Brea Grant) is an author who finds herself under repeated attack by a mysterious would-be killer. She mounts successful defense after successful defense, but each time she wins, the assassin disappears. It's an exercise of frustration and futility for May as nobody believes her and her proof proves to be elusive.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Sweeping cosmic weirdness has been achieved in The Hill and the Hole, an adaptation of a 1942 Fritz Leiber short story. Buoyed by stellar cinematography but burdened by an inscrutable plot, this film might be best understood under heavy hallucinogens.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Two French dullards discover a giant housefly in the trunk of a car that they stole, and they realize that this monstrous insect could be their ticket to fame and fortune. Toro! From Quentin Dupieux, the director and twisted imagination behind Rubber (2010), the bonkers Mandibles was the festival closing feature for Nightstream.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The sequel to the Indonesian horror hit May the Devil Take You is a more than worthy successor to the storyline. Alfie, the survivor of the first film is drafted by a group of orphans to assist with the exorcism of their demon spirit of their wicked caretaker. Strong Sam Raimi and Wes Craven influences are in abundance in this bloody and fun showcase of what Indonesian Horror has in store.
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
An exhausted Iranian couple that is struggling with fitting in their arrival in America crash in a hotel after a night of bickering. The hotel presents them with some hard, hard truths and becomes a haunted prison rather than the refuge they sought. Tightly scripted and wonderfully acted, the film finds its power through suggestion and implied concepts.
Read the review of The Night, and then click here for some SPOILER Interpretations of the structure of the movie.
Back from the grave, we are going back to one of our earliest and favorite podcasts, where we declare whether the horror adjacent films we know (and sometimes) love are horror movies or not! This is often a criticism of the criticism of films. "THAT'S NOT HORROR!" So, this is a hot take episode where we (mostly) take a definitive stance.
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There's literally something fishy about this little beachside community, as a vacationing couple get entangled with a strange beachside community ritual. This is what you get if you mashup Rosemary's Baby with Humanoids from the Deep. The film telegraphs its punches, but it is clearly for fans who like their Lovecraft stories with a thin slice of sleazy.
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Once upon a time in Estonia, there was a spooky anthology gem that stitched together four fantastical tales of dread. Though only one of them truly feels like a Fairy Tale, each of them spins scintillating storytelling and backs them up with stylish visuals.
Witches. They used to strike fear in communities throughout the world. But Sabrina, Samantha, and Hermione have taken some of the edge off of the concept of the witch. Can a movie about witches still provide scares? Abso-witching-lutely!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
A Pentecostal rogue preacher attempting to perform a dubious gay conversion "therapy" session ends up summoning a demon instead. Whoops! Filled with colorful characters, this South African possession tale weaves a well-connected tale with some fun and occasionally brutal story threads.
Half a million visits to our humble horror website! It's a little hard to fathom, and we're so proud of it! We're so glad to have each and every visit, and we're proud to be your source of information of the trends and tropes of the horror genre. Our big goal is 2 million views, which is when we will be eligible for Rotten Tomatoes. So keep coming back! We promise to keep bringing you the spooky!
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Follow the bread crumbs in this clever take on what would at first glace feel like a conventional ghost story / psychological horror tale. It ends up spinning things in a way that is surprisingly satisfying and ends up being exactly as the title suggests: Unfamiliar.
Our favorite film festival, The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival kicks off its 25th anniversary virtually in 2020! This streaming event is just around the corner, from Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4. For fans of Cosmic Horror, this is annually a can't miss event. Tickets are on sale now!
Paramount has released a trailer for Love and Monsters, a hero's journey post-apocalyptic creature feature. Dylan O'Brien, Michael Rooker, and Jessica Henwick star in this action-adventure monster mash, coming to theaters on October 16. You can check out the trailer here!